Saturday, October 15, 2011

Bike the Bricks N Trails

In years past, Fort Worth had a ride called The Clean Air Ride. For whatever reason, the name changed this year to Bike the Bricks N Trails, and it went off without a hitch this morning.

My bike club does a Saturday breakfast ride, and we decided to combine that with Bike the Bricks N Trails. I was running late so I didn't take any pictures of the first part of the ride, but once we arrived downtown I got my camera out to document the "mustering of the clans" (i.e., area bicycle clubs) as well as the individuals that rode.

The president of our bike club, Jim, in his red, white & blue club jersey

I ran into my friend, Hector, who had his daughters with him.

We were well supported by the police who had several bicycle cops, a couple cars, and a golf cart for keeping the trails clear ahead of the group.

Lining up for the start.

Heading north out of downtown on Main Street.

We got on the river trail at Northside Drive and headed back toward downtown.

Hector with his daughters again.

The line stretched out in both directions; I heard an estimate of about 300 riders.

Near downtown we crossed under Main Street and stayed on the trail toward the westside.

We had to cross a couple of these bridges over the river.

We hopped off the trail at University Drive and headed through the westside retail district.

Then we curled around to get on Lancaster to take us back downtown.

Whoa... check out this tandem recumbent.

After the ride, the bike club went to the Corner Bakery for breakfast.

It was a pretty good ride. When it was the Clean Air Ride, they gave away t-shirts to the participants. Now they charged $10, so I passed. Apparently they had more sponsorship last year.

This was my longest ride so far on my fixed gear bike (I built a new rear wheel to convert my single speed to fixed gear). When I got home I figured 47 miles. Since I just turned 49, I hopped back on the bike and rode around the neighborhood a little more so I can say I've ridden my age. I ended up with 51 miles for the day.